(PADUCAH, Ky.) — Ten people have been injured in an explosion at a Kentucky Dippin’ Dots factory.
The explosion took place Wednesday at a Dippin’ Dots-owned facility on Industrial Drive in Paducah. The site is not where the ice cream is made, but where ingredients for a third-party company are produced, officials said.
A truck was unloading liquid nitrogen when the eruption took place, but it’s unclear exactly what caused the explosion, Paducah police spokeswoman Robin Newberry said to local ABC Kentucky affiliate WPSD Wednesday.
The 10 injured people were taken to two local hospitals, Newberry said.
Dippin’ Dots, which is headquartered in Paducah, told ABC News: “This is a terrible accident … At this moment, our focus is on the well-being of our fellow employees who were injured.”
The company said they’re working with authorities for a complete investigation into the incident.
Dippin’ Dots CEO Scott Fischer also released a statement to ABC News: “My heart is with our employees, especially those injured in this afternoon’s terrible incident. I care deeply for our employees — they are family to me. Please join me in praying for our employees.”
(NEW YORK) — The Supreme Court last month remanded a lower court’s ruling that police officers who used excessive force on a 27-year-old man who died in their custody were protected because they didn’t know their actions were unconstitutional.
And it’s a decision that could have lasting effects, according to legal experts including Jon Taylor, an attorney who represented the family of that man, Nicholas Gilbert.
“The Supreme Court has summarily vacated a pro-officer decision by a lower court in an excessive force case,” Taylor told ABC News. “So this is a big deal, not only because of what the Supreme Court said but also because of what it will be for the record going forward.”
Steve Art, an attorney who submitted a brief on behalf of the ACLU for the case, shared Taylor’s sentiments.
“It’s extremely rare for the Supreme Court to summarily reverse a decision finding that police did not use excessive force,” Art told ABC News. “The Supreme Court is sending a clear signal to lower courts that they cannot reflexively decide cases for police officers when they use brutal tactics on restrained citizens.”
Gilbert died in a St. Louis Police Department holding cell in December 2015 after six officers restrained him for 15 minutes, handcuffed him and placed him in shackles, and forced him face down on the ground. Police at the time said they believed Gilbert to be suicidal and said they acted to prevent him from taking his own life. The officers were never criminally charged.
Gilbert’s parents, Bryan Gilbert and Jody Lombardo, sued the officers after his death, and the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against them.
The officers pushed to receive qualified immunity — meaning they’d be shielded from personal liability unless proven to have violated clearly established constitutional rights — when confronted with the lawsuit in 2016, and in 2019, that immunity was granted by a federal judge in the 8th Circuit Court who did acknowledge that excessive force had been used.
But the Supreme Court on June 28 remanded the case back to the lower court, ruling that the 8th Circuit Court did not clearly define whether “prone restraint” was constitutional.
“The Eighth Circuit didn’t get to the qualified immunity question because it didn’t find a constitutional violation in the first place,” Elizabeth Beske, a law professor at American University, told ABC News. “By sending the case back, the Supreme Court is signaling to the Eighth Circuit that excessive force cases require a hard look at specific facts and circumstances and can’t be dismissed lightly.”
Part of the ruling stated: “It is unclear whether the court thought the use of a prone restraint — no matter the kind, intensity, duration or surrounding circumstances is per se constitutional so long as an individual appears to resist officers’ efforts to subdue him.”
But the Supreme Court’s decision was not unanimous — conservative justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented.
Alito wrote the dissent, which included: “We have two respective options: deny review of the fact-bound question that the case presents or grant the petition, have the case briefed and argued, roll up our sleeves and decide the real issue. I favor the latter course, but what we should not do is take the easy out that the court has chosen.”
“That Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett signed on to this opinion sends a powerful message that this Court is paying attention and will not brook casual treatment of these serious social issues,” Beske added.
This decision could have a lasting impact and set a precedent for future cases involving excessive force, Taylor, the lawyer for Gilbert’s family, explained.
“I think the Court recognizes this political moment, in particular, that there is heightened attention being paid to these kinds of issues,” Taylor added. “I think that partially explains why the Supreme Court didn’t let this go.”
Art, who submitted the brief for the ACLU, added: “We expect that the Lombardo case will result in juries hearing more cases brought by the loved ones of those killed and hurt by police, rather than those cases being decided by judges before trial.”
This is not the first time the 8th Circuit has weighed in on an excessive force case. It also had jurisdiction over cases involving Michael Brown and George Floyd, who each were killed by police after being arrested for misdemeanors — Brown in 2014 and Floyd in 2020. In 2017, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld, in a 2-1 decision, a lower court ruling that Ferguson, Missouri, police were not entitled to qualified immunity from a lawsuit by Dorian Johnson, who was stopped along with Brown.
“The Court’s efforts in this area are likely responsive to the ongoing racial justice movement and to political pressure on the Supreme Court itself. Calls to ‘pack’ the court will grow if it is widely perceived that the conservative Court is significantly out-of-step with public opinion,” Beske said.
Gilbert at the time was homeless and under the influence of methamphetamines when he was arrested for a nonviolent misdemeanor, police said. After Gilbert died, officers said they believed he was experiencing a “mental health crisis” when he was in his cell, prompting officers to engage and restrain him.
Taylor said Gilbert “was lifting his chest in an attempt to breathe and saying it hurts, asking them to stop, and then he died. An autopsy found the cause of death to be asphyxiation induced by forcible restraint.”
While race-related issues perhaps have been more widely documented in cases where police have been accused of using excessive force, another major factor is mental illness. According to the Treatment Advocacy Center, persons with an untreated metal illness are 16 times more likely to be killed by law enforcement.
The Department of Justice has warned about these risk factors in the past, and law enforcement agencies across the country have been asked to train police on how to properly handle potential mental illness episodes. Officers have been cautioned that persons suffering such an episode, or who may be under the influence of alcohol or drugs, are at a particular risk of dying by asphyxiation when held face down because it restricts their breathing.
In a statement provided to ABC News, Gilbert’s mother said her son was “kind and loving” and “the type of young man who gives the shirt off his back. He was bubbly and happy all the time. He was a happy young man and he had plans in life.”
“I want my son to finally have his day in court in front of a jury,” she added. “I want my son’s case to be an example — something that changes the way police treat people.”
(JACKSONVILLE, Fla.) — Hospital officials in Northeast Florida are urging people to get vaccinated as the number of COVID-19 patients is approaching or exceeding levels they saw during the worst of the pandemic amid “rampant” spread of the more transmissible delta variant of the coronavirus.
UF Health Jacksonville, in Florida’s most populous city, has seen an “exponential” rise in the number of COVID-19 patients admitted in recent weeks, Chad Neilsen, director of infection prevention at the hospital, told ABC News.
The previous record for the highest number of daily COVID-19 patients across its two campuses — 125 — was set in January; the hospital surpassed that three days ago, Neilsen said, and is currently at 136, with about 40 people in the intensive care unit.
Last week, there were 75 COVID-19 patients in the hospital, 45 the prior week and 20 the week before that, according to Dr. Leon Haley Jr., CEO of UF Health Jacksonville.
“We knew it was most likely due to the delta variant taking a bigger footprint here in the Northeast Florida region because it was so rapid of an increase,” Nielsen said. “Everybody in town is suffering the same fate we are.”
At the Mayo Clinic’s Jacksonville hospital, there has been a “significant” increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations over the past three weeks, “approaching our previous peak numbers,” Dr. Ken Thielen, CEO of Mayo Clinic in Florida, said during a COVID-19 press briefing Wednesday with Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry and other local health care leaders.
“This represents a five-fold increase in COVID hospitalizations, and follows many weeks when we only had a handful of hospitalized COVID patients,” Thielen said.
There are other similarities among the area’s hospitals — the COVID-19 patients they are admitting are largely unvaccinated, and they are younger than what they’ve previously seen during the pandemic.
Among UF Health Jacksonville’s COVID-19 patients, 90% are unvaccinated, and nearly 70% range in age from 40 to 69, Neilsen said. Prior to this surge, 75% of the COVID-19 patients were ages 60 and up, he said.
“We’re definitely seeing a shift into a younger demographic of people,” he said.
According to Tom VanOsdol, president and CEO of Ascension Florida and Gulf Coast, which operates a hospital in Jacksonville, over 96% of its COVID-19 patients are unvaccinated.
“Our median age of our hospitalized patients is 49 — it was in the mid-60s in prior waves of this pandemic,” VanOsdol said during Wednesday’s press briefing. “So it’s a younger demographic who are not getting vaccinated that unfortunately are contracting COVID, and these cases are requiring hospitalization for treatment.”
At Baptist Health in Jacksonville, the COVID-19 patients are “younger, sicker and getting sicker quicker,” Chief Medical Officer Dr. Timothy Groover said during the briefing.
In the past month, 44% of COVID-19 patients at the hospital were in their 40s or younger, and “most were previously healthy,” he said.
As the delta variant has quickly become the dominant variant spreading in the United States, Florida is one of four states reporting the highest weekly COVID-19 case rates per capita, with over 200 cases per 100,000 residents, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
As of Monday, the seven-day average of new cases went up 107.48% in Duval County, where Jacksonville sits, according to the CDC.
At the same time, fewer than half of the state’s residents are fully vaccinated, according to the CDC. Rates are lagging in Duval County, where 41% of residents are fully vaccinated.
“Vaccines are stagnant here in Northeast Florida, and the delta variant is just running rampant amongst the unvaccinated folks,” Neilsen said.
Neilson attributes the latest surge in part to delta’s rise coinciding with Fourth of July gatherings, but said it’s hard to predict where hospitalizations might be heading “because it spreads so quickly.”
Hospitals in the region are worried about staff burnout and shortages as the pandemic wears on and unvaccinated staff are exposed in the community and also get sick.
“We’re facing a real staffing crisis if this continues,” Nielsen said.
The area health care leaders offered a plea for people to get vaccinated if they haven’t already, and to continue mask-wearing, social distancing and hand-washing.
Curry also urged residents to get vaccinated — but stopped short of issuing any restrictions.
“The path to moving beyond the surge and preventing future ones is increasing our percentage of vaccinations,” he said during Wednesday’s briefing. “The math is clear — vaccines work. Restrictions to our economy and personal freedoms are not the answer. The answer is getting vaccinated.”
“Hospitals are full and busy because of unvaccinated people, so the solution here is to get the vaccine,” he added.
(MIDDLETOWN, Ohio) — A 14-year-old girl died Tuesday evening after she was pulled from the water at an Ohio theme park, officials said.
Police were called to the Land of Illusion Aqua Adventure Park in Middletown after the teen went under water and did not surface, the Butler County Sheriff’s Office said.
The sheriff’s office said in a press release that the girl went under at about 5 p.m. and she wasn’t located until a half hour later.
The victim was identified by authorities as Mykiara Jones.
Mykiara was airlifted to Dayton Children’s Hospital, where she later died, police and other officials said.
“This is a tragedy no parent should have to endure,” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones said in a statement. “These are the calls first responders dread and have difficulty dealing with. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family.”
An investigation is ongoing.
In a statement released on its Facebook page, Land of Illusion’s owners said it closed down the water park and is cooperating with investigators to determine what happened.
“We ask that you join us in sending thoughts and prayers and our deepest condolences to our guest’s family and friends, as well as to the team members and guests who were onsite last evening during this tragedy,” the owners said.
The Middletown School District put out a statement alerting the community about Mykiara’s death.
Superintendent Marlon Styles said Mykiara was going to be a freshman at Middletown High School in the fall and the teen’s mother worked in the school system.
“We will be wrapping our arms around her during this extremely difficult time,” Styles said of Mykiara’s mother.
The school provided students, faculty and other members with information on counseling services.
“We extend our deepest sympathy and prayers to the family, friends, and teachers of Mykiara. We pray the family finds peace and comfort during this difficult time,” Styles said.
(LAS VEGAS) — Alarmed by the rising number of COVID-19 cases in Las Vegas, elected officials approved a new indoor public space mask mandate for all county employees, but it excludes tourists and has no bearing on casinos or public schools.
The Clark County Commission unanimously adopted the motion Tuesday night following a raucous emergency hearing, in which the majority of speakers opposed a recommendation from the Southern Nevada Health District to require all members of the public to wear masks in all public settings.
Under the new rule, all Clark County employees, regardless of their vaccination status, will be required to wear masks in public spaces of county buildings, but not in their enclosed offices or cubicles.
Dr. Cort Lohff, chief medical officer for the Southern Nevada Health District, told the commission that COVID-19 infections in the community have tripled since early June, driven largely by the delta variant.
Las Vegas casinos and other businesses were allowed to fully open in early June after months of being closed or operating under severely limited capacity.
The county’s COVID test-positivity rate is at 13.8% and data from state health officials showed that 889 new COVID cases were reported in Clark County on Tuesday alone.
On Friday, the health district issued a recommendation to require all members of the public to wear masks in public settings “regardless of their vaccination status.”
Health officials said that roughly 42% of the population in Clark County is fully vaccinated. The U.S. population overall currently stands at 48.8% fully vaccinated.
“Out biggest pockets of unvaccinated are younger folks, 12 and older who are eligible for the vaccine. We are also seeing low rates among African American folks,” said Lohff, adding that the health district has launched an outreach program that includes a social media campaign to encourage people to get vaccinated.
“The most important thing is to increase our vaccination rates in our community because we know that the vaccines are very safe and despite what you heard, very effective,” Lohff said.
Commissioners said they could not issue a full mask mandate on the public because they have no jurisdiction over casinos and other private buildings in the city of Las Vegas.
“This has nothing to do with the school district,” said Marilyn Kirkpatricks, chairperson of the Clark County Commission. “The school district rules fall under the state Board of Education and the Clark County School District.”
Commissioner Jim Gibson, who proposed the limited mask mandate, said, “We have to do something.”
“We can’t afford to allow hospitals to become more worse in terms of their crowding and we cannot afford to have this economy suffer in the slightest,” Gibson said. “We have already been through a shutdown and a startup. We cannot afford to have major conventions choose to go elsewhere.”
The mask mandate will is scheduled to go into effect at midnight Thursday and will stay in place until at least Aug. 17 when the commission meets again.
Clark County is the most populous county in Nevada with about 2.3 million residents and includes the cities of Las Vegas, North Las Vegas and Henderson.
Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat, applauded the mask mandate the commission passed.
“I support the Clark County Commission for using their local authority to issue this mitigation measure amid significant community transmission in Southern Nevada and as we continue our joint effort to increase access and confidence in the COVID-19 vaccines,” Sisolak said in a statement posted on Twitter.
Some business owners, such as Ben Cucio, who owns a watch design and repair company, told the commission he fears that a total public mask mandate will eventually be imposed if the county’s COVID-19 crisis continues to worsen.
“People are not going to make any money and they’re not going to make any semblance of a reality having to face another shutdown,” Cucio said.
Todd Koren, CEO of Absolute Exhibits, a company that builds exhibits for trade shows and conventions, said he supports the commission for taking action.
“I think it’s a great first step. We have to prove to our tourists that Las Vegas is a safe place to come and visit,” Koren told Las Vegas ABC affiliate KTNV. “Exhibitors who are thinking about coming to a trade show just want to know that it’s safe and that we’re taking the right measures.”
(LOS ANGELES) — The heat emanating from the dozens of wildfires ravaging the West is creating thunderstorms without rain in regions desperate for moisture.
The pyrocumulus clouds, or fire-driven thunderstorm clouds, are created as large pockets of heat and smoke from the Bootleg Fire in southern Oregon rise and meet a relatively cool atmosphere.
The thunderstorms typically don’t contain rain because any moisture that forms usually evaporates on the way down. Vegetation parched by the megadrought is more likely to burn if struck by lightning, and gusty winds from the storms can spread fires more rapidly.
This year’s dry season, exacerbated by the megadrought and climate change, has created a tinderbox, with the relative humidity often as low as 10%.
At least 87 large wildfires are burning in 13 states, with more than 2.5 million acres burned so far this year.
The Bootleg Fire has burned through 388,360 acres and is 32% contained. The fire is threatening about 5,000 homes and has caused thousands of households in Lake County, Oregon, to evacuate.
Evacuations also are occurring near Lake Tahoe due to the Tamarack Fire, which had burned through nearly 40,000 acres by Wednesday morning and was 0% contained.
The Dixie Fire in Butte County, California, has scorched more than 85,000 acres and was 15% contained.
The haze from the smoke-filled skies even traveled east, causing air quality alerts in several East Coast cities, including New York, which marked its poorest air quality in several years.
More than 750,000 acres have burned in 2021 than at the same time last year, and fire season is far from over. The wet season typically begins in October.
(DENVER) — One woman is dead and two adults are missing in the wake of a devastating flash flood and mudslide in Colorado, authorities said.
The flooding in the Poudre Canyon in Larimer County, about 100 miles north of Denver, was reported at about 4:45 p.m. Tuesday, the Larimer County Sheriff’s Office said.
A mudslide around 6 p.m. sent debris flowing into the canyon, destroying at least five structures and damaging the road, the sheriff’s office said.
Outage update: Crews were able to restore power to around 30 members last night. There are currently 101 members without power. For those members, we are expecting extended outages that could last multiple days. #cowx#flood2021pic.twitter.com/OLYwZfHcLM
— Poudre Valley REA (@PoudreValleyREA) July 21, 2021
Evacuations were ordered around 7:45 p.m. The evacuation mandate was lifted later in the night.
Search operations are ongoing Wednesday by foot and drone. Divers will try to recover the victim as well as a car in the river, the sheriff’s office said.
And the danger isn’t over — the flash flood threat will remain through the week.
“We ask that residents remain alert to the weather conditions in the event additional evacuations may be necessary,” the sheriff’s office said.
A federal judge rejected a request from students to block Indiana University’s vaccine mandate this week, clearing the way for the school to require students to get the COVID-19 shot to attend class.
The ruling may set a precedent for future cases about COVID-19 vaccine mandates at universities, according to Eric Feldman, a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, though he cautioned against generalizing too much from the case at hand.
“We’ve got a Trump-appointed judge in a relatively conservative district, dealing with an issue that I think will be a variety of courts,” Feldman said. “My guess is we’re going to see other opinions that track this opinion.”
“The law is on the judge’s side,” he added.
The lawsuit alleged that the university violated students’ rights as well as Indiana’s recently passed vaccine passport law, which prohibits state and local governments from creating or requiring vaccine passports. In the lawsuit, the students claimed they were being coerced into vaccination and that if they did not comply, they would face “the threat of virtual expulsion from school.”
In June, school administrators announced that students would have to verify their vaccination status with the school unless they applied for a medical or religious exemption. Those without exemptions could have their class schedules canceled, their student IDs deactivated and wouldn’t be allowed to participate in on-campus activities, according to the lawsuit.
“This certainly impacts the public interest,” said U.S. District Judge Damon Leichty, who was nominated to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana by President Donald Trump in 2018. However, “the students ‘are not asking to be allowed to make a self-contained choice to risk only their own health’ in making this decision — their decision necessarily bears on the health of other students, faculty, and staff,” the South Bend judge added.
“The balance of harms doesn’t weigh in the students’ favor here.”
Contrary to the students’ claim that they were being forced into unwanted medical treatment, the judge said students could choose from alternatives, including getting a vaccine, applying for a religious or medical exemption, applying for a medical deferral, taking a semester off, going to another school or taking online courses.
“That leaves the students with multiple choices, not just forced vaccination,” Leichty said.
Feldman pointed to Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a 1905 Supreme Court decision that found public entities have the right to impose vaccine mandates to protect the public’s health. “One would expect based upon Jacobson and many, many cases that have followed, that courts are more likely to support the mandate than to find against it,” Feldman said.
Feldman described the ruling as “awfully detailed and thoughtful” but pushed back on Leichty’s assertion that the constitutionality of vaccine mandates at universities is a novel question. While COVID-19 vaccines are new, universities have long mandated other vaccines for students who attend, Feldman explained. “What arguably makes the COVID-19 vaccine mandate unique is that the vaccines were approved under emergency use authorization, but full approval is inevitable, so that distinction will soon be moot,” he said.
Chuck Carney, a university spokesperson, told ABC News that “when the case was filed, we felt confident in the outcome that we would prevail.” He added, “we appreciate the quick and thorough ruling, which allows us to focus on a full and safe return. We look forward to welcoming everyone to our campuses for the fall semester.”
Indiana lags slightly behind the national average in vaccinations. As of Monday, 46% of residents had received at least one dose, and 44% were fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. By comparison, 57% of Americans have gotten at least one shot, and 49% are fully vaccinated.
(EL DORADO, Calif.) — A couple whose gender reveal celebration triggered the El Dorado Fire in California last year that killed a firefighter and left 13 injured has been charged.
Refugio Manuel Jimenez Jr. and Angela Renee Jimenez each were charged with one felony count of involuntary manslaughter, the San Bernardino County District Attorney Jason Anderson announced Tuesday.
Other charges include three felony counts of recklessly causing a fire with great bodily injury, four felony counts of recklessly causing a fire to inhabited structures and 22 misdemeanor counts of recklessly causing fire to property.
The El Dorado Fire sparked on Sept. 5, 2020, when the couple and their young children set off a smoke bomb at a gender reveal ceremony at El Dorado Ranch Park in Yucaipa, at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains.
The device ignited dry grass on the hot day, authorities said. Despite trying to douse the flames with a water bottle, strong winds fanned the fire and it ripped through the wilderness and national forest land, fueled by extremely dry conditions, Cal Fire said at the time.
The fire burned over 22,000 acres across San Bernardino and Riverside counties and forced the evacuations of hundreds of residents, officials said.
Charles Morton, 39, a 14-year veteran firefighter, died while fighting the flames. The blaze also injured two other firefighters and destroyed several residential structures, prosecutors said Tuesday.
“He’s fighting a fire that was started because of a smoke bomb — that’s the only reason he’s there,” Anderson said.
The defendants were arraigned in court on Tuesday and entered not guilty pleas. They were released on their own recognizance.
If convicted on all counts, they could face sentences in the “lower teens to low twenties” in terms of years, Anderson said.
The charges for the couple are seen as a warning to others as much of the western U.S. remains hot and dry, with wildfires still spreading and more than 18 million Americans under heat alerts.
(NEW YORK) — New York City health workers will be required to get vaccinated for COVID-19 or undergo weekly testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced during a Wednesday news conference.
“The delta variant continues to make more and more trouble, and we’ve got to fight back,” de Blasio said. “We need a strong, clear approach — that every single one of our workers gets vaccinated or tested weekly.”
Beginning in August, all @NYCHealthSystem staff and @NYCHealthy clinical workers must show proof of a #COVID19 vaccine or a weekly negative COVID test. Join us at City Hall for more.
The new rules, which will go into effect on Aug. 2, will apply to all employees at city-run hospitals and clinical workers for the health department. The city plans to extend the new rules to additional health department staff in coming weeks. Those employees will be required to show proof of vaccination or a negative test result.
The mayor stressed that the new rules are an additional step to keep the city safe and won’t take away from grassroots efforts, such as mobile sites and at-home vaccinations, to raise vaccination rates in the general population. The new rule isn’t technically a vaccine mandate, since employees have the option to get tested each week.
“Every single one of those employees has a choice,” added de Blasio, noting that a vaccination was the better of the two options. “This is about keeping people safe and stopping the delta variant.”
Vaccination rates in New York City’s general population are slightly above the national average. As of Tuesday, 58% of New York City residents had received at least one dose and 54% were fully vaccinated, compared with 56% of all Americans who’ve gotten at least one shot and 49% who are fully vaccinated, according to data from the city health department and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Hospital workers tend to be vaccinated at a higher rate than the general population, although the percentage of fully vaccinated New York City hospital workers (70%) is slightly lower than the statewide average (74%), according to the state health department.
